Scoop

Christina Aguilera just can't seem to get along with her peers. Her feud with a fellow pop star made headlines recently when Pink declined to cohost the MTV Europe Music Awards. Now the singer is picking a fight with Britney Spears.

Aguilera, who suggested Spears lip-synched at the MTV Video Music Awards Aug. 28, told Blender magazine, "These people aren't artists, they're just performers—fake and super-ficial." Aguilera may be miffed that it was Britney's kiss with Madonna—and not hers—that got all the attention at those awards. But her hit list doesn't stop there. The British press reported that Aguilera tried to steal Jade Jagger's former boyfriend Pharrell Williams this year. Aguilera told Britain's The Face: "Some women...feel I'm just too much of a threat."

Jennifer Love Hewitt is another celeb who has experienced her share of Aguilera grief. Aguilera doesn't care for Jennifer's taste in men, telling Rolling Stone, "She wants a bunch of white boys I don't want," and noting "I would scare the s—-out of her if she came to one of my sleepovers."

Then there's Pink. After the pop singer declined to cohost the MTV awards show with Aguilera, she answered by refusing to allow Pink into a party she threw at the London club Elysium. She told Britain's The Mirror, "When has Pink not been copying me?"

Aguilera dissed Kelly Osbourne, who was also banned from the club party, by throwing darts at a picture of her face during the awards show. Osbourne responded by calling Aguilera a "sad, sorry person." Her full comments were edited, according to the New York Daily News, because her mother, Sharon, intervened with MTV execs.

Liza: David Hurt My Career

Liza Minnelli would like you to know that she is "a uniquely talented actress, singer, dancer and entertainer," whose "success on stage, in film and on television is legendary." That's all according to new court papers filed in Manhattan. Oh, and by the way, she can also throw a mean legal punch.

On Nov. 13 Minnelli filed suit against her estranged husband, David Gest, 57, for approximately $2 million—3½ weeks after he sued her for divorce, claiming that she beat him and demanding $10 million in damages. But Minnelli's beef-in this filing, at least—isn't with Gest as a husband, but as an agent. She's claiming that he "failed to conduct himself with...trust, honesty and fair dealing." The star's suspicions about Gest—again, as an agent, not a husband—were aroused, she states, soon after their wedding on March 16, 2002, when Gest "began refusing projects unless they included himself." Gest's lawyer Raoul Felder says his client spent millions of his own money on Minnelli's career, claiming that Gest and a friend once spent $90,000 to buy unsold tickets to a Minnelli performance.

Still, the show goes on—for Liza, at least. Minnelli, 57, returns to TV this week with a recurring role on the new FOX comedy Arrested Development.

Who says no to Halle Berry? The actress wondered the same thing on Nov. 13 at the L.A. premiere of her thriller Gothika. When she got to the end of the red carpet, a fake fire marshall barred her from entering the theater, explaining to her that it was closed due to overcrowding. Berry, looking every inch the poised movie star, argued in vain and eventually lost her cool. "Finally she said, 'Where the f—-is Joel Silver? How could this happen?' " reports Silver, the Gothika producer who was hiding nearby. He appeared, with Ashton Kutcher in tow, to give Berry the news: She had been Punk'd, the latest celebrity victim of Kutcher's MTV practical joke series.

She wasn't alone. Gothika director Mathieu Kassovitz also fell prey, speaking with a Punk'd staffer posing as a red-carpet interviewer with some probing questions. "She asked me if I had naughty thoughts about Halle," recalls Kassovitz. "I was like, 'Nope, no, never, why are you asking me this question?' "

Berry's reaction to the practical joke? Maybe she was channeling the accused murderer she plays in Gothika: "I'm gonna kill you," she told Silver. With a smile.

Rocked, Rosie Rolls On
At least one drama involving Rosie O'Donnell will go down as great theater. But it won't be Taboo, her $10 million Broadway musical that opened Nov. 13 to terrible reviews ("Cats had more teeth," hissed The New York Times). Rosie vowed to keep the expensive production going, but it appears she won't getting financial help from her court battle with Rosie magazine publisher Gruner +Jahr. After often emotional testimony (an employee said O'Donnell told her "liars get cancer"), the judge told attorneys for both sides that neither would likely collect damages when he issues his decision, expected sometime after they submit briefs on Dec. 17.

Courtney's Legal Beagle
When Courtney Love arrived at a preliminary hearing Nov. 12—she's Charged with two felony counts of possession of painkillers—she brought a bouquet, her beagle Molly and, of course, attitude. After pleading not guilty and being told there would indeed be another hearing, she asked, "What is it we're continuing? Do I have to live in this weird hell?" Yes, said the judge, starting Dec. 11.

POP QUIZ

Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore on anorexia? It gets one's attention, and that's the idea. The actress has joined Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and others in "Face the Issue," public service ads and a Web site (www.facetheissue.com) dealing with health issues. Scoop spoke with Moore, 42.

Your spot deals with anorexia. Have you ever experienced symptoms of the disease yourself?

No. I've certainly seen people struggle with it. In this industry you see it around you a lot. I remember being 17 and worrying about being pretty, but I don't remember this preoccupation with weight the way it seems to be now.

Do you worry that Hollywood's emphasis on thin stars is a bad influence?

Oh, absolutely! I make it a point to tell people that what we do is an illusion. It's not reality. I think our culture has become overly fascinated with entertainment and celebrity, so these images are looming larger than ever in young women's lives.

Are you affected by the same pressures?

The hard thing for us as actresses is we have to be incredibly body-conscious. It's very, very difficult. I have to think about what I eat and how I exercise and all those kinds of things because it affects my living. But it doesn't mean I have to do it in unhealthy proportions. It does mean I have to be constantly aware, which is not so easy.

I try to eat a little bit of everything I like. I think that's important, and I think that whenever you deny yourself something, it becomes a difficult way to live. What's great for me is exercise. As long as I'm active, I have balance.

Why do the ads? Is it the sort of thing that makes fame worth the hassle?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. This is the one thing celebrity is really good for...if I can call attention to an important issue.

ON THE BLOCK

THE CHAMP'S CHATEAU
PRICE: $3.2 Million
PLACE: Berrien Springs, Mich.

SPECS: Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali is selling this 81-acre Michigan estate, his home for 27 years, and planning to move to a warmer climate. The grounds include two barns, a swimming pool and a gymnasium equipped with a regulation-size boxing ring, complete with a table for rubdowns.